ONE dog owner feared the worst when her beloved pet pooch disappeared and was missing for hours.

But, after the family and local community rallied together to search for the missing pup, Lulu is now safe and well and back at home.

Sammy Fisher, from Oakwood, said: “You don’t always get happy endings like this. So many people helped to find Lulu and I will never be able to find them to thank them.”

Lulu, a shorkie - a cross between a Yorkshire Terrier and a Shih Tzu, went missing when Sammy's boyfriend took the dog out for a walk on Saturday, May 3, at around 5.30pm on the park in Oakwood.

The one-year-old pup ran off into the road and was hit by a car driven by a man, who immediately stopped to help the dog.

But Lulu got away and was found hours later by a resident in Applecross Close in Gorse Covert, who called on her neighbours to help find the dog’s owner before one of the neighbours decide to take her to the vets in Orford.

Mum of one Sammy said: “When my boyfriend came back to the house and told me what happened, I went out looking straightaway.

“So many people tried to help. There were kids running round and at one point someone asked me if I had seen Lulu as they were looking for her too. Everyone I bumped into was trying to help.”

After searching the nearby area for the dog, Sammy was relieved to discover that Lulu was at that vets and immediately went to pick her up.

The dog suffered from bruising and needed an operation to her neck after she was attacked by an unknown dog while she was missing.

“She is going to be OK - that’s the main thing,” said the 26-year-old. “My family really helped and so did many others. It’s so lovely that they wanted to help.”